The One Who Stays
by Mentally-Unstable
Summary: After Weir's going away party, one of the team is left confused and alone in their time of need. When the one person they thought they could rely on backs down, can the one they least expected step up and pick up the pieces?
1. Energy

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Title: The One Who Stays

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Rating: PG-13

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Genre: Drama/Romance

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Summary: After Weir's going away party, one of the team is left confused and alone in their time of need. When the one person they thought they could rely on backs down, can the one they least expected step up and pick up the pieces?

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Season: 3/4

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Spoilers: MAJOR spoilers for UNCONFIRMED spoilers for season 4.

Notes: The season three episode "Sunday" **NEVER HAPPENED**! So, yes, _that _character will be making several appearances.

Author's Note: This is in response to a challenge issued to me by CenasNakedInMyBedWithMe, after my rants and raves about the spoilers/rumors concerning Stargate Atlantis season four. So, this is sort of MY take on how it would go in my world--and is probably nothing like it will play out on television, if it EVEN DOES. That being said, it's still it's own story, but if you're a spoiler-phobe, you can either (A) be warned! or (B) enjoy it as a sole fanfiction and try not to guess what's a spoiler and what isn't. Unless you just want to...or will you?

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Dr. Rodney McKay tapped his foot impatiently against the stone floor of the temple, resisting the urge to throw his flash light at the incompetent scientist in front of him, "Oh, will you just move and let me do it?!"

"Look...this isn't your forte. And snapping and yelling at me isn't going to make this go any faster." Dr. Casey Page said as he stood up, adjusting his glasses and tugging on his shirt, "This is an ageless artifact encased in stone. It's going to take some time to remove without damaging it, sir."

"I don't care how 'ageless' it is! The energy readings on the life signs detector are off the charts, and I need to get a good look at it, otherwise..."

"If I don't go slowly and carefully here, the only way you'll be looking at it, will be through a magnifying glass after it shatters into a billion pieces. It's extremely delicate, and extremely old, so I suggest you go outside and _wait_!"

Rodney glared, both angry and proud that the young scientists outburst sounded so similar to his, before spinning around and marching out of the temple with a clenched jaw and veins bulging out of his neck. He hated being undermined, but more so, he hated being told to wait. Waiting wasn't something that Rodney McKay did, especially when he was being told to wait on something that could possibly hold more power than a Zero Point Module.

"What's wrong, McKay, someone take your last bran muffin?" Colonel John Sheppard strode up, toying with his P-90 as he sat down on a nearby tree stump. Teyla wasn't too far behind, a teasing smirk playing on her face as she waited for the verbal fight that she was sure was about to go down.

"No, for your information, I'm in the process of possibly changing the fate of Atlantis, and the entire Universe, as we speak!" Rodney retorted with a cocky grin.

"And you're doing that by standing eerily close to a pile of animal crap?"

"What?" Rodney looked down and gagged as he hopped away, "No, that's not what I mean!"

"Well, what do you mean?"

Rodney shook his head, "Look, it's not my fault I'm out here not doing my job. Dr. Page in there is insisting I wait on his delicate retrieval of something that could possibly make the ZPM look like an Energizer battery."

Sheppard's eyebrows flew up as he stared at Rodney, "You mean something that would keep going and going and going...and still keep going?"

"Exactly." Rodney shook his head, "I mean, it's possible! I won't know for sure until I get it back to Atlantis, but right now...the odds are looking really good. I mean _really_ good."

Sheppard eyed Rodney incredulously. He'd seen the look on Rodney's face a dozen times before. It was the look he got when he really believed in something, when he really felt that something was going to work. When he really believed he was right. But then again, Rodney _always_ believed he was right.

Finally, after several moments of intense staring and trying to decipher whether Rodney's enthusiasm was believable, Sheppard stood up and sighed, "Well, in that case, I'll go check on Dr. Page's progress."

"Yeah, you do that." Rodney crossed his arms over his chest stubbornly and leaned against a tree. Sheppard raised an eyebrow, "You're not coming?"

"No."

"Ah...ego war. Got it." Sheppard shook his head and walked past Rodney into the temple.

Rodney shook his head, sighing as he looked up at Teyla, "So, how was the perimeter search?"

Teyla raised an eyebrow, "It was...fine, Dr. McKay. Why the sudden interest?"

"I dunno, just..." He shrugged casually, "Makin' conversation."

"Uh-huh." She eyed him curiously.

"I had...a lot of coffee." He cleared his throat nervously, "I'm gonna go see what...Ronon's doing." He nodded and walked away. Teyla laughed softly and shook her head, taking a seat on the tree stump that Sheppard once occupied.

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"How's it going on here?" Sheppard asked as he strode into the temple. Dr. Page looked up and acknowledged the colonel with a nod of his head, "Fine, Colonel. I'm almost done. More than half of the crystal is out of the stone, and completely undamaged."

"Really?"

"Yes, sir. It's beautiful. Come take a look."

Sheppard stepped over the equipment, nearly stumbling into the rock wall as he made his way over to where Dr. Page was standing. He kneeled down, his eyes glued to the emerald green crystal that stuck out of the hideous stone. The crystal was nearly the size of a ZPM, with flecks of silver dancing in the center if the light shone on it just right.

"Wow." Sheppard whispered, bringing his hand up to lightly trace the edge with his fingertips, "Hey, what are those?"

"Hm?" Casey stepped forward, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose to get a better look, "What's what?"

"Those!" Sheppard pointed to the silver runes engraved near the edge, "What do they mean?"

"I...I have no idea, sir. Those weren't there five minutes ago."

"What?" Sheppard scoffed, "That's impossible."

"No, I swear! I can prove it--it's completely documented on my camera."

"How the hell...?" Sheppard's voice trailed off as he softly traced the engravings. He could've sworn they glowed a brighter silver the more he touched them. "So Doc, what do you think they...?"

A flash of light exploded out of nowhere, sending both the Colonel and Dr. Page flying backwards and colliding with the opposite wall. They fell to the ground, unconscious. The light emanating from the crystal slowly evaporated, and a shadow passed over the cave for a split second.


	2. Explosive

**Title:** The One Who Stays

**Rating: **PG-13

**Genre: **Drama/Romance

**Summary: **After Weir's going away party, one of the team is left confused and alone in their time of need. When the one person they thought they could rely on backs down, can the one they least expected step up and pick up the pieces?

**Season: **3/4

**Spoilers: MAJOR spoilers for UNCONFIRMED spoilers for season 4. **

**Notes:** The season three episode "Sunday" **NEVER HAPPENED**! So, yes, _that _character will be making several appearances. Elizabeth's "exit" it one of my own doing. It's really my own Atlantis-verse…XD!

**Author's Note: **Sorry it took so long…I'm lazy. Oo I want to give special thanks to janib, CenasNakedInMyBedWithMe, Anonymous, cc, lisa, and tvnut127 for taking the time to read my little story and give me nice reviews. I love you aalll…XD Sorry this chapter is as short as the first, but I wanted to get it up before the new year. Oh, have a happy one of those, by the way. New year, that is. Um…ok. XD

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"I dunno, I can't explain it." Sheppard shrugged as he thought back on the previous mission, "It was like an explosion, only not as…explosive."

Dr. Elizabeth Weir raised an eyebrow as she crossed her arms over her chest and stared down at the shell-shocked colonel, "Well, that makes perfect sense."

"You know what I'm tryin' to say!"

After finding Colonel Sheppard and Doctor Page unconscious in the cave, and seeing the energy crystal lying shattered on the floor, the team immediately headed back to Atlantis with a medical emergency. Both patients escaped with merely bumps on their heads, but the incident still couldn't be explained. Page had been medically cleared earlier, and he and a small team of scientists had gone to review the video documentation to see if they could come up with an answer to it all.

"How ya feeling, butterfingers?"

Sheppard rolled his eyes as Rodney strode in, the smirk on his face a mixture of smarmy and angry, "I didn't drop the damn thing, Rodney! It was still encased in rock when I touched it!"

"Oh sure, try to save your own behind by covering up the fact that you destroyed a device that had the potential to be the next _great_ discovery of all mankind!"

"Ok, now you're just exaggerating."

"Maybe a little, but that's not the point!"

Sheppard sighed, "Look, I'm sorry I took away your Nobel Prize, but it wasn't my fault, ok?!"

Elizabeth cleared her throat, "Rodney, perhaps you should go and check on Dr. Page's progress--see if he's found anything interesting on the video?"

"Why? I'm not the one that got hurt!"

Elizabeth and Sheppard both gave him a look.

"Ok. Fine. I know where I'm not wanted." He glared and spun around, marching out of the infirmary, and Sheppard couldn't help but laugh softly before looking up at Elizabeth, "So, how are your party plans coming along?"

"Depressingly." She smiled sadly, "I hate leaving, but it's something I have to do."

"It's just six months." He shrugged, "You'll be ok."

"Six months or more." She sighed, "Diplomacy is not an easy thing--not when you have to leave your home."

"Hey, don't worry," He smirked, "We'll keep the porch light on for you."

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Despite his complaints to Elizabeth, the truth was, Rodney really had nothing to do at the moment and found himself wandering into the lab currently occupied by Page and his scientists. He was surprised to find Teyla seated at one of the tables, watching a technician as he worked on his laptop. Rodney cleared his throat, and she looked up.

"Dr. McKay." She half-smiled, "How is Colonel Sheppard doing?"

"Completely unfazed, as usual. How is the, uh, video documentation going?"

"To be honest, I am not quite sure." Teyla shrugged, "All they do is zoom in and take notes. It all looks the same to me."

"You and me, both." Rodney mumbled, "What are you doing in here anyway?"

She shrugged, "Sheer curiosity. You?"

"Sheer boredom."

Teyla smiled slightly, shifting in her seat, her elbow propped on the table as she eyed Rodney curiously, "Rodney, it may not be my place to ask, but…how are you handling Dr. Weir leaving Atlantis?" She laughed nervously, "I am sorry. That was…"

"No, no--it's fine." He cleared his throat and shrugged. The truth was, so much had been happening lately that he hadn't honestly had the time to process the news of Elizabeth leaving Atlantis temporarily. Of course, her leaving was for the sake of everyone--the military, as well as the government, were considering shutting down the Atlantis expedition for the sake of Earth, and it was up to Elizabeth to convince them all that keeping the Atlantis expedition open was the best thing _for_ Earth, as well as the rest of the universe. Now that he thought about it, Rodney realized that a part of him was actually going to _miss_ her. He was human after all, he thought with a small smile. He looked at Teyla, "Now that I think about it, she will be missed."

Teyla raised an eyebrow, "By you?"

"Well, um…" He fumbled nervously, and then gave up, "Yes. By me."

She smiled, "Me too."

"Right." He cleared his throat, and before he could think of a different subject to discuss, Dr. Page burst in with one of his McKay-like rants.

"…I can't believe him! After all that's happened, and he doesn't show up at the debriefing, and he borrowed my data pad and still hasn't given it back!"

Rodney held up his hands, "Calm down, Casey! What are you babbling about?!" He frowned, almost feeling like the young scientist was moving in on Rodney's "overly caffeinated and erratic" status.

Casey sighed and looked at Rodney, "Lieutenant Loughlin! He had been helping me document the artifact and when he took a break, he still had my data pad. I didn't need it at the time, but now…"

Teyla frowned, "He did not appear at the debriefing?" She thought about it and mentally confirmed it for herself, "Perhaps I should go look for him."

"No, I'll do it!" Casey snapped, in anger at Loughlin, not necessarily Teyla, "I intend to give him a piece of my mind!"

"Well, why didn't you do that in the first place instead of coming in here screaming bloody murder?" Rodney mumbled, and received an evil glare from Casey.

"I heard that." Casey growled, before storming out of the lab. Teyla and Rodney exchanged humorous glances before turning their attention back to the footage on the laptop.

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End file.
